Washington (CNN) - Rep. Marsha Blackburn blasted President Obama and his fellow Democrats 'cap and trade' energy legislation Saturday, calling it a "bureaucratic nightmare" for small businesses and households across the country.

In the weekly Republican radio and Web address, Blackburn said the Presidents plan for energy efficiency will only push the country toward a deeper economic recession.

"If President Obama has his way, the Copenhagen conference will produce mandatory emissions limits that would destroy millions of American jobs and damage our economic competitiveness for decades to come," the Tennessee congresswoman said.

While in Copenhagen, Denmark, next week, Obama is expectedto set a goal of reducing emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels over the next decade.

"Just think of what will happen to small businesses and manufacturers hit with these skyrocketing energy bills," Blackburn added. "With Americans already facing double-digit unemployment, there could not be a worse time to unilaterally disarm our engines of job creation and economic growth."

Touting her proposed bill H.R. 391, which aims amend the Clean Air Act so greenhouse gases are not subject to the act, Blackburn emphasized the Republicans aren't opposed to energy efficiency.

"Republicans are all for clean water, clean air, and clean energy," Blackburn said. "We just don't think we have to tax people out of their house and home to get there. That's why we have proposed an 'all of the above' energy strategy that says, let's put every clean, responsible energy option on the table so we can create jobs, ease the strain on family budgets, and clean up our environment."

soundoff(69 Responses)

Well, if she thinks this is pricy, how about relocating N.O, Miami and San Francisco when the ocean rises. Is she that bought out or just living up to the dumb blonde image?

December 12, 2009 09:56 am at 9:56 am |

Gary

The party of no speaks again and cnn is there to run with their headlines.

December 12, 2009 09:59 am at 9:59 am |

Mark

The democrats are already going to make everyone's insurance premiums go up even higher. Now all we need is higher home energy cost too. This is what happens when hollywood runs america.

December 12, 2009 10:08 am at 10:08 am |

War and fiscal conservatism don't go hand-in-hand. Get the GOP out of our government.

Don't listen to any repuke.lick.cons. They've already created a mess that can't be cleaned up. Virginia and New Jersey have already made their mistakes with recent elections. Let's do our part to make sure it stops right there.

December 12, 2009 10:09 am at 10:09 am |

gary davis harbor oregon

when are the republicans going to run out of liers to give speeches?
oh thats right half of the congress is republican oh poop .quess it will be awhile until they finnally give up and help rebuild what the Cheney Bush Rove administration screwed up 🙂

December 12, 2009 10:09 am at 10:09 am |

Gary

Another barbie doll gop bimbo.Just because she sleeps with the knuckle draggers does not mean we want to know what comes out of her mouth.We can only imagine what has been in her mouth.

December 12, 2009 10:13 am at 10:13 am |

Dixon

I can't take Republicans to serious about this issue. I remember hundreds of thousands of jobs being sent over seas due to tax incentives put in place by Republicans. I wonder what Blackburn had to say while thousands of jobs were lost during the Bush fiasco of a Presidency.

December 12, 2009 10:14 am at 10:14 am |

Chris

And a "to" missing in the next-to-last graph. Other than a complete absence of editing, this story is GREAT!

Yep, if we try and progres and become a cleaner, more fuel efficient nation, the sky will fall in. Everyone will be unemployed, business will crumble, women and children will be raped in the street and the fires of hell will engulf us. Oh, yeah, the terrorists will jump out from every bush and slaughter us all. Did I cover everything?

Same old republican song and dance.

December 12, 2009 10:21 am at 10:21 am |

Zion

Hey, did anyone tell Blackburn that actually its more expensive to use American resources. That's why I laugh at the amount of confidence people are willing to put in Republicans about long term issues. Republicans are great with short term strategies, but long term results, they are poor.

December 12, 2009 10:22 am at 10:22 am |

Terry from West Texas

Here we go again! Conservatives love the "bureaucratic nightmare" argument. They describe in mournful tones the image of the lonely CEO sitting in his office late at night filling out government forms. In a box under his desk are bulging file folders labeled:

"Ideas for creating new jobs"
"Ideas for new products that Americans really, really want"
"Ideas for lowering prices so Americans can live better"

He hasn't had time to look at any of them because a nameless bureaucrat from "the government" will arrive threatening to confiscate the corporations assets and give them to crack hoes and union members if all of the forms are not filled out perfectly.

It's like watching the same bad movie over and over and over and ...

December 12, 2009 10:22 am at 10:22 am |

Dr Matrix

The republicans are for clean air and water? They intend to acheive these things by not controlling pollution. I guess this is the environmental version of trickle down. The problem is we're the ones getting trickled on.

December 12, 2009 10:23 am at 10:23 am |

Linda

And conserving. Conserving energy, spending, waste, excess, all should be adopted, right about now....especially when this Democratic government is looking at raising the Debt ceiling again, what, the 3rd time this year alone, by an additional 1.8 trillion? This is insane.

Lets see. If a homeowner said, I can't pay my 300K mortgage and I've tapped out my credit cards, can you give me a lone for 300 K, so I can make more mortgage payments and pay my credit cards? In better times, if someone actually said yes, because they would be "spending more", do you think when that person went back to the bank and said, look, now I'm still having a hard time paying my mortgage, because now I also have high payments for the loan, if you give me a Million dollar loan, that covers boath loans I have taken out, with extra to spend on my credit cards", would anyone in their right mind say yes? Correct, but these Democrats would.

December 12, 2009 10:25 am at 10:25 am |

Lee in TN

Marsha Blackburn is another embarrassment to the citizens of Tennessee. She just follows Senator Alexander, who follows Senator Corker who is a leader in the party of "no". No ideas, no cooperation and no regard for the people. Always true to their motto "Politics over people"!

December 12, 2009 10:27 am at 10:27 am |

Scott, Tucson

I wonder why is it that democratic politicians are hell bent on turning this nation into a third world country?

December 12, 2009 10:29 am at 10:29 am |

Beverly in NC

So we have another whining, criticizing Republican – what else is new? It doesn't matter what the topic, issue or piece of legislation – they are going to be against it and act like it will bring the end of the world.

We are really sick and tired of their constant negativity and lack of NO solutions. They are dishonoring their oath of office in Congress by doing NOTHING, voting NO on everything, and not representing the best interests and needs of their constituents.

It's time to replace these do-nothing Republicans with intelligent leaders who care about the People and are in Congress to work for the betterment of our nation. All these Republicans are focused on are tearing down any progress and trying to keep America in a state of failure for their own twisted political game-playing. I am tired of them playing games with my life. They need to be unseated in 2010 and 2012 so leaders who care about the People and restoring America can get down to work.

December 12, 2009 10:31 am at 10:31 am |

independent

The GOP has no, repeat, no credibility. Who could believe them on anything? They are the Party of No. They are the Party that believes the Earth is only 5000 years old. They are the Party that refuses to believe in evolution. They are the Party that will not accept the obvious fact of Global warming.

This is the Party that was against Social Security. They were against any minimum wage. They were against Medicare. They strip regulations and regulatory agencies. They want to privatize social security. They were against the financial stimulus and now the financial reform bills.

They are the Party of No. They are the Party that puts big business ahead of individual Americans. If they say, "cut the blue wire," make sure you cut the red one.

December 12, 2009 10:36 am at 10:36 am |

katiec

So what is new??
The party of NOthing is against anything and everything regardless of it's merits.
They even had the nerve to totally vote against Finance Reform,
supporting the banking industry in their continued raping of the
American people.
They are truly becoming our countries most dangerous domestic terrorists.
They are out to destroy everything, including our country.,